My broadband is crawling, but no way to tell if it's part of planned work !!?

Since this morning my connection has been rising and falling from 10MBps down to almost zero, with a number of disconnects. It's completely erratic and almost unusable and now the best it is managing is 2.5MBps.

I tried phoning plusnet but it's a recorded message about storms & telling me to get the latest update on line.

Well, I checked the latest update, and it says the MBORC status IS NOW CLOSED as of 3 hours ago and there are no other issues. Well, I can tell you it is NOT solved here. So which is right - the online message or the phone message?

Online chat is not working. That only leaves your ticket system which, let's be honest, never garners any reliable replies.

So how am I supposed to get any assistance?

I have gone through the troubleshooting - tried another router, used test socket, different filter, all to no avail.

I'm very unhappy, it just seems to get more and more inconsistent in recent weeks/months.

Re: My broadband is crawling, but no way to tell if it's part of planned work !!?

Well, I checked the latest update, and it says the MBORC status IS NOW CLOSED as of 3 hours ago and there are no other issues. Well, I can tell you it is NOT solved here. So which is right - the online message or the phone message?

MBORC does not cause faults, it's there to advise of delays in fault resolution once they are reported to us.

As you've been through the troubleshooting I'd advise getting this reported to us as a fault at https://faults.plus.net

Re: My broadband is crawling, but no way to tell if it's part of planned work !!?

OK Chris, thanks for the reply. Speed went back up to 9Mbps last night & was stable but it's down around 3Mbps again today. I don't believe it is anything in my address, I can only assume something is causing these up and down speeds externally somewhere. If it doesn't settle down I will report it tomorrow.

Current line speed much lower than max speed?

OK, I've reported a fault and I just hope PN can get to the bottom of it, but I am wondering if anyone can explain possible reasons why my download speed should drop to a steady 3Mb when it is usually around 9Mb?

My router still reports a max rate of 11000, but the actual speed is sitting at 3072 (in reality it's more like 2.5).

I've done all the troubleshooting checks - listened to the line, changed filter & router, plugged into test socket, all to no avail.

PN have done initial line checks and found no fault.

It actually feels as if someone has suddenly capped me to 3072. Is that a paranoid thought or is it actually a possibility?

It started on Sunday with erratic rising and falling of my speeds all day, and by Monday pm it settled to it's current 3072. Even if I disconnect, wait and reconnect to try another gateway, it comes back at 3072. That has never happened to me before, it usually produces a connection at a different speed each time, but not now - 3072 each time. I can't say I've done it more than a couple of times as I don't want to cause it to drop further, but it just seems very odd that it is sitting so steadfastly at the same speed each time for over 24hrs.

I realise some people put up with even slower speeds, and I'm sorry for those people, but since I have been used to 9Mb, I am finding it almost unuseable for streaming, or trying to do anything at all if Windows 10 decides to download an update as it is now wont to do.

Re: Current line speed much lower than max speed?

I've asked for this to be added back to your other thread about this as it makes sense to keep this going in the same place.

It is possible that your line is banded, this is not the same as a cap but is done automatically by the DLM to try and stabilise the connection. This is probably due to the amount of disconnection that were happening:

We can easily remove the banding, but it'll simply get added again if the line continue disconnecting.

Re: Current line speed much lower than max speed?

I am posting on this forum as well as on the ticket as I sometimes get a better response & understanding of what is going on & what some of the terminology means.

I received the following email during the night from PN:

'We have asked our wholesale broadband suppliers to turn interleaving on on your phone line to try and fix your current broadband problem.Interleaving is a form of error correction that helps to improve the stability of high-speed broadband. One drawback of interleaving is that it can increase ping times, which may cause problems for online gamers.We think that turning on interleaving may help with your connection problems. Interleaving usually takes 24 hours to turn on, but can take up to 5 days to take effect.If you are still seeing problems with interleaving switched on please get back in touch with us. Thank you for your time and patience'

I have replied to this via support tcket, (although this latest message had not actually been included on the ticket by PN).

While I am grateful for the efforts to get my speeds raised and stable, I am also concerned as I definitely do not want to be left with a high ping that affects online gaming, and I hope this is not simply glossing over the fact that the cause of the problem needs to be found and fixed.

Up to Saturday 8 Oct My broadband ran at 7-9Mb or greater, so there must surely be a reason and a way to fix this & return to these speeds without causing other handicaps to my supply.

Clarification as to what interleaving actually means, and what efforts are being made to find the actual fault, would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Current line speed much lower than max speed?

Look, I'm sorry but I am seeing so many other posts with similar reports of suddenly decreased speeds, yet none of them are being 'resolved' by switching interleaving on.

Why is this approach being taken in my case please?

I want the fault to be investigated properly and put right rather than have a sticking plaster stuck on it and put up with these slow speeds and handicapping my online gaming.

There IS a fault that was not here a few days ago - I want the level of speed/bandwidth that I pay for and that I was receiving until a few days ago.

No one answers the phones, online chat doesn't work, I can't tell if anyone takes notice of the ticket, & then I'm told that 'interleaving will be turned on and might take 5 days to work but might also cause online gaming problems'.

So I come to the forum and hope to be heard. My internet is suddenly TOO SLOW and I want it repaired properly please.

Won't someone from PN reassure me that this really IS going to be investigated further ?

Re: Current line speed much lower than max speed?

'Sorry, the tool failed to identify your gateway; this does not mean that anything is wrong with your connection.

Posting the following information as a reply to the Gateway Checker Issues topic in the Community forums will help us to diagnose the problem.

core2-hu0-18-0-0.southbank.ukcore.bt.net (62.172.103.24) 4.631 ms'

I just feel so helpless. My speed is banded, so even if I disconnect and try again (which I assume would allow me to try a different gateway), I can not tell if there is any improvement, as the speed just shows a constant 3072. So in reality I am now stuck on 2.5Mb speed, and the prospect of this interleaving being switched on and forgotten (causing me gaming problems) is really, REALLY making me feel like I am just a nuisance to be got rid of by flicking a switch, instead of actually trying to trace a fault that started specifically on Sunday.

I would be long gone if it wasn't for the BT Sport package (I need my MotoGP fix) - my only other choice is BT which I have tried to avoid, or I could risk switching to fibre, (but at the moment PN are not giving me the faith to pay into another contract, which might not fix it anyway).

Re: Current line speed much lower than max speed?

We can easily remove the banding, but it'll simply get added again if the line continue disconnecting.

Chris,

this slow speed is killing me. Can't we try removing the banding in case the line problem has resolved?

I do not want interleaving turned on because of my online gaming, so I really want the fault to be found - the problem only started on Sunday, and with banding on, there is no way to see if it returns to normal.